Slayers: Days
by MikariStar
Summary: Magic, supernatural occurrences, unexpected mishaps, dragons and mysterious monsters... It's just another day for the Slayers. XellosxFilia, GourryxLina, ZelgadisxAmelia
1. Arc 1

Slayers: Days

Supernatural occurrences, unexpected mishaps and a very mysterious monster annoyance... It's just another day for Filia. XellosxFilia, GourryxLina, ZelgadisxAmelia A collection of short stories

One shot collection based on Slayers: Alive and Slayers: Chaos.

Slayers: Days

Arc 1: Curse of the Castle Town

When an angry Filia chases an annoying Xellos into a cursed town, the pair becomes trapped in a loop where every day is different but the tragic end is always the same. Can they change the course of destiny and break free?  
Chapter 1: Misplaced Reality

Life is full of challenges, some greater than others. Right now Filia's greatest challenge was hitting Xellos with her laser breath as she soared through the skies in her dragon form. She had gone a considerable distance away from her shop, but she was determined to catch that annoying monster. The golden dragon lost altitude as she flew over a lonely town that she could have sworn wasn't there a second ago. She didn't pay it any mind though, her attention was focused on her target.

Xellos on the other hand did notice there was something odd about the town. It looked like it was surrounded by some kind of astral warped space, but it wasn't exactly a pocket of astral space. This was something peculiar. Dodging another laser from Filia, Xellos lowered himself closer to the town at the center of which there was a castle. Filia flapped her wings and hovered above him. She shot a few more lasers, which Xellos dodged while at the same time examining the area around the town. Seeing that it was blocked by powerful magic, he looked for a weakness in the barrier and sensed one at the gates.

Curious to investigate the mysterious energy emanating from the castle town, Xellos approached the gates, easily dodging Filia's laser breath. The golden dragon was feeling tired and out of breath from chasing him around so much. Xellos teleported in front of the gates and cautiously examined the area. He felt the thump of Filia's landing behind him. She transformed without giving it too much thought. She was too angry, too tired, too desperate to let out her tensions. "Xellos!"

The purple haired monster looked back and grinned. He noted that Filia was bent over and breathing heavily. She wouldn't be able to blast him with a laser right now. It also didn't look like she had the strength to lift her mace an go on the physical offensive. There was a crackle of magic as if something was set in motion inside the barrier, unknown to them it was something that happened everyday. Wordlessly, Filia rushed towards Xellos and tackled him. He was expecting her to throw out some more insults while she waited to recover her strength. Her actions took him by surprise and he was thrown forward past the castle town gates landing in a heap with Filia on top of him.

The atmosphere within the castle town gates was drastically different from the atmosphere outside. The noise of a terrible battle was clear, while it had been imperceptible outside. A swarm of bandits raided the town, stealing, attacking, burning and causing all around chaos. Xellos enjoyed the taste of it while Filia was tortured by the sights. It looked as if the raid was in its final stages and the victims were many. She couldn't understand how it was possible that she didn't hear the screams of terror or see the rising smoke of the burning buildings. This was a disaster.

A bright flash of light overcame their senses, it was the end of the loop that happened every day when the sun set. The shadow of a dragon was seen, golden scales shone above them, the source of the bright light. A well build man with a spear dashed past them, he was heading towards the gate, but didn't make it out on time before the light enveloped the whole town and just as suddenly it faded away.

The town was once again buzzing with activity. The bandits were gone and the sound of the panicked screams and destruction were replaced by the sharply contrasting sound of merchants setting up shop, people greeting their neighbors and early risers making their way down the street. In the castle town of Aeterum time didn't matter. It could be day, it could be night, it mattered not, but when the sun set or the sun rose, the bandits returned. Sometimes they attacked in fast forward and decimated all in seconds, sometimes it was painfully slow. Either way the result was always the same, there was no escape.

"What just happened?" Filia got up off Xellos and ventured into the town. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Xellos replied truthfully. "It was what you did. This area was inside some kind of astral shield and you pushed us into it."

"What?" Alarmed, Filia tried to make their way towards the town gates, but found that she could not go past them.

"It looks like that route is one way," Xellos concluded. "The energy of a curse is in the air, mixed with the energy of a dragon. Such bitter creatures..."

"I don't know what's going on," Filia frowned defensively, "but there's no way a dragon did this." She made her way through town where no one seemed to mind her. She wanted to go home, but she had a bad feeling about all of this. She headed towards the castle at the center of town, passing a booth selling masks. She looked at an oni mask with critical eyes, picking it up just to feel that the scene was tangible and real. "It must be the work of a monster."

"I don't think so," Xellos picked up a dragon mask, holding it over his face as he spoke, "it's the work of a dragon.

"I'm not listening to you, raw garbage." Filia placed the oni mask back on the display on the booth and walked off in a huff. Xellos returned the dragon mask to its place and hurried after her.  
A jester stood in the center of the castle town's plaza entertaining the locals with puzzles and riddles. "What is darker than twilight and more crimson than blood?"

"Ruby Eyes Shabranigdu!" The people around him replied in a chorus.

"Stop following me," Filia grumbled as she made her way faster across the plaza.

"Should you really be wondering around an unknown cursed castle town alone?" Xellos taunted.

It was ironic how she went from following him to running away from him. Filia had tried to get her revenge on Xellos and it did not work out, now she was done trying for the day and wanted to get away from him. She soon realized that the jester at the center of the plaza wasn't alone. A whole trope of performers invaded the area in festive costumes and gowns as if it was a masquerade ball of clowns. Filia got caught among them and made to spin around in a dance. The townspeople played along amused by the traveling performers that ignored the golden dragon's anger at having her personal space invaded.

Before she threw a big tantrum and leveled the town, Xellos discreetly cut into the dance and led Filia away from the mayhem of the performers. As much as he would enjoy watching her go on a rampage, it might be dangerous to allow that given the peculiar state of that mysterious castle town. The scene shifted as Xellos spun Filia in his arms, the dragon trying to get away from the commotion in the plaza. The sun that had come up so suddenly sun in the horizon and they were left under the moonlight.

The party continued as a town-wide carnival as Filia pushed Xellos away and stumbled down the stairs to the street below the central plaza's platform. She was caught by the same man she and Xellos had seen running towards the gates at their arrival. He looked like he was not there by coincidence, as if he had been searching for them. His eyes were focused on Filia, as if he had recovered something precious.  
The muscular spear wielding man steadied Filia on her feet and glared at Xellos, pointing his weapon at him and standing in front of Filia. "I can't stand monsters, especially monsters who attack defenseless damsels! It is foul creatures like you that are my rivals in life!"

Xellos grinned widely, "you call yourself my rival?" He mocked. "You call that a damsel?" The monster general priest pointed at Filia, who glared fiercely in return. "She's not a damsel, not a lady, she's a dragon," he smugly teased.

"Excuses!" The spearman roared. "Dragons are honorable creatures. I, Kardis Xeriun, am myself am indebt to elder of the Aqualord's clan who saved my life!"

"You think all dragons are honorable just because the ever dull Milgazia saved your pitiful existence?" Xellos mockingly inquired, his ever present grin was still in place, but his eyes opened for just a split second as if he was specially annoyed by this man's interference. Xellos inched closer, pushing the spear away lightly with the end of his staff and taking a few more steps towards his challenger. Kardis was different from the rest of the townspeople, he didn't belong in that town and yet he was somehow caught in the curse, perhaps linked to it some how.

"Stop it!" Filia screamed in annoyance. She swiftly positioned herself between Xellos and Kardis and pushed them apart left and right. Her dragon strength made them fall to the ground.

In the distance there was the echo of shattering glass as a lady dropped a vase in fright at the sight of the group of bandits invading the peaceful town as the sun rose in the horizon. People screamed, children cried, the whole town panicked. The bandits swarmed the town, cutting down people left and right. They were helpless. The children's cries intensified as the cruel gang set the castle town ablaze. Everything was chaos. "How could we be out of time already?" Kardis scrambled to his feet and grabbed Filia's hand. He began to run, "we have to hurry, transform, fly, we need to reach the gates before the raid ends, it's the only way out!"

Filia was pulled along at first, but there was an echo in her ears that stood out above all other sounds. Kardis insisted that she transformed, Xellos teleported in front of Kardis, both eyes, open, ready to go on the attack with a possessiveness that not even he could understand. Everything was in turmoil, but all she could hear was that sound, the sound of the children's cries in the middle of a great tempest. "Let go!" Filia freed herself from Kardis' grasp. Kardis looked back as she ran away into the eye of the storm, into the area where the tempest was at its worst. He hesitated for a split second before running away full speed towards the gates. This damsel was a dragon; she could take care of herself. Xellos paused perplexed, tasting the desperation of the human man, the hope, the fear of disappointment and the resignation of giving something up. He ignored him as he dashed by and focused on Filia. "Stupid dragon, you're running in the wrong direction!"

Filia returned, running back towards the gates just in time to yell back. "I know what I'm doing, raw garbage!" She was holding a little boy and girl in her arms, running towards the exit with them as fast as she could. Then the bright flash of light returned, the silhouette of a dragon was seen and the flames that assaulted the near by houses grew to great proportions. Surrounded by fire, Filia held the children close to her in a cold embrace using ice magic to keep the flames away.

"Stupid dragon!" Xellos used his monster magic to try to put the flames out to no avail. It was an illusion all part of the curse that overtook the castle town. "I'm not sure what's going on, but I think that guy knows, so if you'd stop being stupid for a moment-"

"I'm not leaving them!" Filia shouted as she hugged the children protectively. They were fading away, disappearing from her arms. The atmosphere around her was still cold as Xellos tried to pull her to her feet. The children disappeared completely; Filia ceased her resistance in shock, allowing Xellos to pull her into his arms. The atmosphere was still cold around them, almost freezing from the ice magic she had used before. Then the scenery finally finished changing and it was daytime again, a busy morning with townspeople walking about, minding their own business and not minding the visitors. Filia saw the children she had tried to save safely playing in the plaza, amused by the traveling entertainers. She looked towards the gates and saw the spearman looking frustrated. Kardis Xeriun, just who was he and what did he know about that strange place where reality had been misplaced?

xoxox xox xoxox

Chapter 2: Tea Leaves

Xellos stepped towards the gates and gave the spearman his trademark cheerful grin as if he was blissfully unaware of his own curiosity. Filia had enough, she wanted answers and though she was usually the first one to blow her temper, this time, she was the one to stop the fight. "Tea!" She shouted, "I want a cup of tea."  
"A suspiciously convenient time to get thirsty..." Xellos voiced, scratching the side of his face in slight curiosity, his cheerful mask becoming a little more like a real grin. "Fine then, let's all go have a cup of tea, your odd new friend too."

Kardis glared, he had missed another opportunity. "I see no reason to drink tea with a monster."

"With this raw garbage near by," Filia pointed at Xellos as if his mere presence was a misery. "I'm sure even the sweetest tea will taste bitter, but he's really hard to get rid of. Let's focus on the explanations for now."

xoxox xox xoxox

A few minutes later, introductions were officially exchanged and Xellos, Filia and the mysterious Kardis were sitting in the middle of a flower garden with the colors of dusk painted in the horizon in the background. Filia took a calming sip of tea then let out a slow breath. "Mr. Xeriun, if you would please tell us about this castle town."

"Just Kardis," the spearman replied as he threw a distrusting glare at Xellos. A soft breeze blew slightly moving his blond hair as the morning progressed in apparent peace. "As for this castle town, it's called Aeterum. It was cursed by a dragon along with everyone in it, locals and visitors. I came to investigate some mysterious disappearances. This town usually always repeated the same day over and over, but when you two entered the flow of time went crazy, probably because a dragon and a monster entering at once caused a power surge of sorts. It seems to have settled down now. As for the way out, after being trapped here for so long I've figured it out. To leave this place one has to cross the gates during the raid. The rest of the time the entrance at the gates is only one way, it lets people in but not out. It's harder than it sounds. During the raid something always happens to prevent my escape."

"What about the townspeople?" Filia asked with concern, while Xellos focused on his tea.

"I tried to warn them, but they won't listen," Kardis revealed. "Who would? To them, I'm just a crazy visitor predicting a senseless disaster. I don't think they would listen even if a dragon warns them." It was clear that he had gone in circles many times and had been unable to solve this.

"I could try to force the barrier open," Xellos suggested with a grin of amused curiosity. "The town would probably be destroyed in the process though."

"Even a dragon would be injured by a burst of energy of that magnitude, if not killed," Kardis pointed out in warning. Although on second thought, that might have encouraged Xellos to test his theory... yet somehow it didn't.

"That option checks out," Filia determined, leaving no room for argument in the firm glare she gave Xellos. "Maybe if we can figure out the cause of the curse, then we can safely break it."

"That dragon..." Kardis mused aloud, not finishing voicing the thought. He took a drink of tea.  
Filia sighed and admitted, "not all dragons are good..."

"Really?" Xellos raised an eyebrow and opened one critical yet teasing eye towards Filia.

"It could also be a monster influencing the dragon," Filia added.

"I've looked around but haven't been able to find any monsters, aside from him," Kardis nodded towards Xellos.

"Maybe you would be able to sense what's happening more clearly."

"I'll try," Filia voiced. She was still very confused about what was going on, but she intended to get to the bottom of it.

"It's like a game," Xellos chuckled as if it was all very amusing to him, though the barrier did concern him. "We'll have to solve a puzzle and possibly win a race," he referred to the need to arrive at the town gates quickly.

"Easier said than done," Filia mused aloud.

The echo of a familiar voice interrupted their conversation. "I don't know what's going on, but bring on the main course, triple portions!" The female voice called from the direction of a restaurant a few feet away.

"I'll have the same!" A male voice added from the same direction.

"It looks like things just got a little more interesting," Xellos grinned mischievously. He finished his tea and winked to Filia, "good choice of tea leaves." Then set down his tea cup and stood up. He headed towards the source of the voices.

"That's the voice of..." Filia began with concern.

Surprisingly, Kardis finished for her. "Lina Inverse."

"You know her?" Filia exclaimed in surprise.

"Yes, I know Lina and Luna rather well, especially Luna." There was a hint of something hidden, though it didn't look like Kardis had any intentions of revealing it just yet.

"If you know Lina, then you must know we're in grave danger!" Filia began to hastily put away her tea set and clean up after the group. With the empty cups and tea pot in her cloak, she hurried after Xellos.

"Grave danger?" Kairdis mused for a moment, eyebrow raised. Then the answer came to him. If anything at all happened to upset Lina Inverse or she became frustrated with not being able to leave right away or at the latest when the destined bandit raid finally came, she would call upon the Dragon Slave. The energy would be either caught inside the barrier and thrown back at those within it, or it would forcibly break the barrier and cause a chain reaction that would lead to a powerful burst of energy. Either way, they would be doomed. He hurried after Filia.

To be Continued

xoxox xox xoxox

Chapter 3: Burn

"So you see, unless you break the barrier, there's no way you'll be able to free the castle town and collect the reward you're after." Xellos finished his own version of the explanation to Lina. It was truthful, yet conveniently incomplete.

Between big bites of food, Lina mused, "I could overload it with a Dragon Slave..." She saw Gourry reaching over to grab another portion of chicken and quickly became distracted. "That's my chicken!"

None the less, Xellos commended with a mischievous grin, "excellent idea, Lina."

"That's a terrible idea!" Filia interrupted as she arrived on the scene. "If you use the Dragon Slave, it will cause an overload and we'll all die!" She noticed that Lina's attention was not on her as she made her very important statement. Strangely, the sorceress wasn't looking at the food either.

The petite redhead tilted her head, eyes focused in recognition, "Kardis?"

"Good to see you again, Lina," he greeted.

"Is this a friend of yours?" Gourry asked with curiosity after swallowing another big bite of food. "Can I spar with him sometime?" His tone could be compared to that of a little boy asking if he could borrow a toy.

"Sure, sure," Lina agreed, answering in place of Kardis, which made Gourry smile at the reply. "I've heard a lot of people disappeared when they came to investigate this town. Have you been stuck here since you dropped off the face of the earth?"

"Unfortunately so," Kardis took up a chair at Lina and Gourry's table, reaching over for the roasted chicken and picking up a drumstick.

"Oh no you don't!" Lina greedily pulled the chicken away, but Kardis didn't let it go.

"This is my favorite, I'm going to tell Luna you're being greedy," Kardis warned. Lina yelped and let the chicken go.

"Now, now, Lina," Xellos shook his head. "Are you going to let him pick on you like that? That was your chicken this terrible man stole. Shouldn't you, at the very least, burn him with a fireball for his insolence?"

Lina pouted, "you're right, I should!" However, her determination deflated a mere split second later. "But then Luna might get angry at me if he tells her I'm being too greedy." She groaned in resignation.

"Well, I'm glad everyone is so well acquainted," Filia tried to get the group back on track focusing on the task at hand. "Now if we could discuss a plan of action to break the curse that doesn't involve getting blown up..."

"Why don't we just ask him?" Gourry dumbly inquired with a look of clueless confusion upon his face that didn't justify the genius of his rare logical statement. It was simple, straight forward and effective. Yet the suggestion was in fact so simple, that the others failed to appreciate it at first.

"Ask who?" Lina inquired. "Xellos? He'll just try to trick us. Kardis? If he knew how to break the curse he wouldn't still be stuck here."

"Mr. Dragon," Gourry replied. The blond swordsman strained his memory to recall Xellos' recent narration. "Xellos said the town was curse by a dragon, right? Why don't we just ask the dragon about it?"

"As if he'd tell us!" Lina huffed. "Right, Kardis?"

"I haven't actually tried that option, but I would assume he wouldn't tell us," Kardis logically concluded.

There was a long moment of thought filled silence until Gourry encouraged. "We won't know unless we try, right?"

Another pause followed and Filia actually agreed. "That might be worth a try. We'll have to wait until the next time the dragon appears. Well not the dragon himself, but the embodiment of the dragon's curse. It might carry the dragon's will, so it will probably be possible to communicate with it."

"Until then, we'll eat!" Lina cheered.

"You know, this food is only an illusion," Kardis pointed out. "It fills the stomach and keeps us alive, but what's really doing that is the energy around here, kind of like recovery. The dragon's purpose wasn't for everyone to starve, just imprisonment." He called the waiter over and ordered some more chicken, then turned to Lina and Gourry with a chuckle. "Illusion or not, it's tasty so we might as well enjoy it."

Lina felt her eye twitch. "The illusion of food?" Her face became enraged, wild, vengeful. "I didn't survive a world wide famine and defeat the ultimate enemy of the Mother of all Things just so some dragon can disrespect food. This is a sensitive subject that must be respected!" She growled fiercely.

Kardis' eyes grew wide in realization. "This reminds me of when I first met her and thought she was Luna's daughter because she's so short and flat... This can only mean..."

Though Lina would have certainly been further enraged by Kardis' reminder, she was already too furious to hear him. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows..."

"Lina, no!" Filia tried to stop her, "we'll get blown to bits!"

"Buried in the stream of time is where your power grows..."

"That's it! Keep going!" Xellos cheered her on.

"I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand..."

"What part of 'this is suicide' do you not understand?" Filia screeched.

"Before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands..."

"Don't worry so much stupid dragon," Xellos smiled cheerfully, one eye open in anticipation. "If things get too hot, I'll teleport you, Lina and Gourry out of here."

"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed..."

"What about Kardis and the townspeople? We can't leave them! I can't leave them!" Filia argued fiercely. "Didn't you see what it was like when the bandits came? Everyone ran minding only themselves. It's no wonder they didn't stand a chance. If they had stood together and helped each other..."

"By the power you and I possess..."

"That's it..." Kardis came to a silent realization that he did not have time to share.

"Dragon Slave!" Lina released the full extent of her powerful signature spell.

The shield around the town flickered and everything was surrounded in flames. The bandits appeared out of nowhere as the scenery abruptly changed to sunset. The light of day gave way to the light of flames as the town burned.

To be Continued

xoxox xox xoxox

Chapter 4: Sacrifice

The townspeople were in a panic. "The gates! Everyone to the gates!" Kardis rushed to battle, expertly wielding his spear to make a path for everyone to escape.

"It's out of control!" Filia shouted in alarm.

"I guess I over did it..." Lina realized too late. "But it wasn't my fault! Food needs to be respected!"

Gourry had already jumped into the battle along with Kardis, who was chanting a spell in an attempt to put out the flames. "You who crosses between sky and earth, gently flowing water, gather in my hand and give me power... Demona Crystal!"

The shield around the town glowed, making it look as if the sky was on fire and the silhouette of the dragon appeared again, angered. "Dragon, please talk to me. Tell me why you've done this!" Filia tried to reason with it to no avail. "Why do you hurt these people?"

"I hurt no one," the embodiment of the dragon's curse that carried his will spoke in a resounding ominous echo. "They disappoint me, if they had only learned, even from a single visitor, they would have been freed. The power that I have casted upon this castle town might have been overloaded by the power summoned from Ruby Eyes, but it will not simply allow an escape. This is your last chance. Fulfill what must be done or perish once and for all!" The glowing silhouette disappeared, ghostly and eerie, as the atmosphere became heavier with more power by the second. The shield would not hold for long and an explosion would surely ensue.

"What is it that must be done? Please tell me!" Filia insisted, but no reply came.

"Stupid dragon, the exit at the town's gates is open, we need to leave!" Xellos urgently reminded.

"Alright, you heard him, Gourry, Kardis, let's go!" Lina tugged on Gourry's arm. "This is a useless fight, an illusion, we need to retreat."

"It's not real? The people aren't real?" Gourry asked unsure as he parried a blow from a bandit and sliced through the wooden handle of the robber's axe, leaving his weapon without a blade and the enemy defenseless.

"They are real," Kardis corrected as he impaled another bandit with his spear. "I understand now, this is not really a curse, it's a final effort to save everyone, if a worthy one should come..."

"What in the world does that mean?" Lina asked exasperated. This was certainly not the time for philosophical musings and such time consuming activities that stole away precious seconds needed for the important task of escaping with their lives.

There were those voices again, the voices of small children, a boy and a girl. "Open a path and lead everyone away. Get them all out!" Kardis insisted.

"Alright!" Lina wasn't sure what was going on, but if those people were not just part of the illusion then she had to save them... and collect some rewards for her efforts! "Let's go, Gourry!"

Kardis headed towards the source of the voice, catching up with Filia, who was being scolded by Xellos for being a stupid dragon who placed herself in danger. While they argued, he tried to drag her away from a burning building and she resisted, the spearman headed inside among the flames. "He's even more suicidal than you..." Xellos commented with a hint of disappointment. He would rather Kardis fall as a result of his own trickery rather than throwing away his life.

The flames consumed the building almost entirely and the structure looked like it would collapse in itself. This wasn't a rescue; it was a sacrifice, a gamble, a dangerous act of selflessness. A loud roar echoed as Filia transformed into her dragon shape and casted a Freeze Rain spell, using her laser breath to change the endless falling icicles into water that put out the flames of the three story structure where Kardis was. She destroyed the floating ball of ice as soon as the task was done and using her massive size and strength she ripped off the building's ceiling. "Kardis, where are you?" He wasn't in the top floor.

"You're feeling rather wild today, aren't you? You can stomp around later; we should really get going now." Xellos reminded with more urgency, refusing to leave Filia's side until she retreated to safety. The shield around town glowed a deeper shade of red and a powerful burst of energy rained down upon them sudden and deadly. Xellos called forth his power, pointing his staff upward, the red gem glowing brightly. The burning energy collided against the shield he created, bouncing off to the sides and making a bigger mess of the area around them.

Finally, the building collapsed. "Kardis!" Filia called in worry.

"I'm here!" Kardis made it out of the rubble just on time, with two small children in his arms. "We need to leave!"

"Right!" Filia picked up Kardis and the kids on one hand, grabbing Xellos with her other.

"Hey!" The monster protested, but opposed little resistance to being carried off like a sack of potatoes.

Filia dashed towards the exit, zooming past the town gates and taking flight speedily, just on time to avoid the final overload of the shield around the castle town and the massive explosion that followed.

To be Continued

xoxox xox xoxox

Chapter 5: No Sense of Occasion

Everything was obliterated and it came as no surprise for those who were used to being in the company of Lina Inverse. However, this final time, the purpose of the so called curse had been fulfilled in spite of all the useless repeats. "What that dragon expected was..." Kardis mused aloud as he gazed into the crater where the castle town once stood. "Nothing short of a miracle. It wasn't as much of a curse as a second chance, one in which we all got caught. The answer was to get everyone to safety. I understand now..."

"Than the dragon's magic actually helped save the townspeople?" Filia let out a breath of relief.

"You can put us down now..." Xellos reminded with his usual grin. Realizing she still held Xellos and Kardis in her dragon hands like dolls, Filia quickly put them down.

"Another mystery solved by the beautiful Lina Inverse!" Predictably, the gluttonous red haired sorceress took all the credit. "Where's my reward?"

The residents of the town were gathered around the crater that was once their home. The leader, a man in his fifties, stepped forward to address the sorceress. "I'm afraid we cannot reward you." He motioned towards the big, obvious crater that took up the portion of land where the town used to be. "Everything we owned was destroyed," he frowned in disapproval.

"At least you're free of the curse and you won't have to relive the same day over and over being attacked by bandits." Filia tried to point out the bright side of the situation.

A young man huffed, "right, now we'll have to rebuild our town from scratch and live a whole bunch of hard working days that will feel the same." A multitude of murmurs erupted from the crowd.

"You're actually complaining? You were rescued, freed! This is a happy occasion of gratitude and you have to reward your savior!" Lina adamantly argued. "You have to reward me!"

"Didn't they fail to save themselves out of selfishness or something like that?" Xellos pointed out with a grin that told he was rather amused with the situation in the end.

The group of survivors kept muttering among themselves and started looking less and less like the surviving victims of a disaster and more like an angry mob, a very angry, absolutely furious mob. "Get them!"

"Time to get out of here!" Lina was quick to jump on Filia's back, followed closely by Gourry.

"I'm not a horse!" Filia protested.

"No one said you were!" Kardis hopped on her back as well.

Xellos jumped on Filia's head. "Giddy up Filia!"

Filia shook her head violently. "Don't put garbage in my hair!" The exasperated golden dragon took to the skies, while the angry crowd struggled to keep up on foot throwing stones at their destructive group of saviors.

xoxox xox xoxox

After losing the angry mob, Filia landed, allowing Lina, Gourry and Kardis to get off her back. Kardis had decided to go to Zephilia, as he had been away for a long time, while Lina and Gourry planned to continue their endless journey across the world. "Really Lina, you shouldn't let him go like that." Xellos cautioned with fake concern. "Kardis is probably going to tell your sister bad things about you and get you into trouble. You're better off getting rid of him now. Don't worry about the evidence, you can use your magic to disintegrate the corpse and no one will ever know."

"If you so badly want me dead, why don't you try it yourself?" Other than the fact that he was a monster, Kardis could think of no particular reason why Xellos would want to kill him. Besides, the way he interacted with Filia was somehow different from his initial perspective. Plus Lina didn't appear to be particularly alarmed.

"That might annoy the Knight of Ceifeed and perhaps the dragons will jump into the fight sooner or later... not likely, but who knows? I'm not supposed to pick that kind of fight unless authorized by Beast Master." Xellos truthfully explained. "Such are the duties of middle management." His cheerful mask never faded from his face.

"Who's the knight of Ceifeed?" Gourry asked out of the blue, though Lina had told him before in various occasions.

"My sister, Luna, remember?" Lina pointed out. "And I really don't want to get on her bad side, so if you want to annoy her, find yourself a stupid pawn... a stupid suicidal pawn."

Filia frowned in disapproval, "or better yet, don't annoy her. Luna is my friend, you know."

"You're a terrible judge of character, stupid dragon," Xellos teased.

Filia huffed, "I'm not even going to deny that!" Clearly, she was referring to him.

Lina backed away, "I think it's best to leave those two alone." Wisely, Lina, Gourry and Kardis left, going their separate ways a little further down the road.

xoxox xox xoxox

Even after the others were gone, Xellos and Filia continued arguing for a while, until she saw that they were alone. She changed back into her elf-like form. "Everyone left and I didn't even notice. It's all your fault, raw garbage."

"Yes, I know," Xellos winked as he grinned smugly, "I'm terribly distracting."

Filia pouted as she remembered why she was chasing Xellos in a fit of rage the first place. She had asked if he knew what day it was and it somehow evolved into an argument. The argument led to broken pottery and that was like the cue to start the chase. "You have no sense of occasion." She crossed her arms and continued to pout.

Xellos wrapped his arms around Filia, pulling her close, and she didn't resist. "Still mad at me, stupid dragon?"

Filia dwelt on it for a moment before replying. "No more than the usual annoyance. I guess this is nothing in comparison to other things you've done. Plus it's more a matter of not doing something in this case. It's not like I was expecting anything extraordinary, but with the vast collection of trivial details you seem to know about every topic under the sun, I thought you could at the very least remember. That would have been enough, it would have been plenty."

"I still have no idea what that mysterious occasion you keep saying I forgot is." Xellos adopted a puzzled look.  
Filia shook her head, "just forget about it." She looked towards the distant horizon. "With how crazy that town was I've lost track of time. I'm not even sure for how long we've been gone. I hope I didn't worry anyone." She wondered how Val, Jillas, Gravos and the others were doing.

"I'm sure no one would miss a stupid dragon." Xellos remarked with something that sounded very much like himself. He continued in a very casual tone. "They probably came up with a theory for our absence. Maybe they assumed we ran off on a second honeymoon for our anniversary or some other stupid thing like that."

End of Arc 1

There are a few writing challenge themes from Beloved Enemy in this story, they are from Summer Nights and Spook Festival. The character Kardis Xeriun belongs to Raiyone and is being used with permission by request. The castle town and key plot concepts, such as the time loop curse are also from Raiyone, I only modified them a bit and added some XellosxFilia to the mix. This disclaimer, as well as the fact that I obviously don't own the Slayers anime series, will apply to all the chapters.

xoxox xoxo xoxox

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	2. Arc 2

All the one-shots in this collection can be read as stand alone separate stories. But if you want to link them to the main stories of "Slayers: Alive" and its sequel "Slayers: Chaos" Arc 1 takes place between the two. Arc 2 takes place after Chaos.

Slayers: Days

Arc 2: Traditions

"Hello everyone!" A girl, human in appearance, with light skin and long dark hair with a blue strand and dark eyes waved at the... camera? "Since Mr. Kanzaka usually finishes his novels by breaking the forth wall, I have come here to Wolf Pack Island to do the same. Now let's welcome my co-host in the traditional breaking of the forth wall, Zelas Metallium!"

Zelas teleported on the surface of Wolf Pack Island beside Mikari. "Chaos forever!" She made a victory sign. "So what shall we talk about? It's been a long crazy journey, hasn't it?"

"You bet," Mikari agreed. "The plot bunnies hit me hard until the adventure was all written out. I have to say, this story was..." She paused, observing the golden glow that appeared behind Zelas and slowly took on the shape of a blond woman. "The Lord of Nightmares!"

"Oh yes, it was indeed a tale as epic as the Lord of Nightmares, especially since my role was more important in the sequel than in the first part," Zelas agreed. Then finally she turned around to realize that Mikari was trying to tell her that the Lord of Nightmares was actually there.

The Lord of nightmares spoke in an ominous voice. "I'm usually the one who co-hosts the traditional breaking of the forth wall with Mr. Kanzaka in his novels. Are you trying to steal my job?"

"Not at all," Zelas pushed Mikari forward, "it was all her idea. She's a bit crazy you see, just look at what she implied about me and Milgazia."

"I didn't imply anything!" Mikari argued. "I just narrated a series of events and the readers were left to their own interpretations. But hey, if you don't want Milgazia, I'll be happy to take him off your hands."

"So you do like him!" Zelas exclaimed.

"Of course I do," Mikari admitted. "I like Milgazia, Xellos, Zelgadis, Gourry, I like them all, I've never denied that."

The Lord of Nightmares pouted. "Focus ladies, we were discussing my job, or lack of job, as a co-host over here. This will teach you both not to exclude me, don't you know breaking the forth wall is my favorite part of the story?" She made Milgazia appear and the spontaneously teleported golden dragon looked, understandably, very confused. Suddenly a golden glow surrounded him as the Lord of Nightmares disappeared with an evil laugh left to echo.

Milgazia blinked, looked around and suddenly shouted in terror then hid behind Zelas. "I don't know what that creature is, but it's scary!"

"Hey! No fair!" Mikari pouted. "Why is he afraid of me now? He doesn't even know what a sadistic fangirl I am, this makes no sense!"

"Can't you just use your own power to break the curse of the Lord of Nightmares?" Zelas tried to get Milgazia off her, but he wouldn't let her go.

"I can't use raw power. If I use too much power, it'll backfire and turn me into the horrible creature known as Mary Sue. My interference must always be subtle and I can only directly address the beings of this dimension during the traditional breaking of the forth wall and on no other occasion. Even then, I cannot display raw power that surpasses the Lord of Nightmares, it's too much of a risk," Mikari explained.

Zelas shuddered. "Mary... Sue? Don't say that horrible name!" She shoved Milgazia away, but he clung to her again. "You know, if Xellos finds you like that, he'll kill you." Milgazia only held her tighter and hid his face against her chest. "Seriously, has fear consumed all your diplomacy? Get off!" She tried teleporting, but Milgazia was still lashing onto her when she reappeared.

"Don't worry, I can still break the curse the hard way, by doing whatever anyone from this world could do," Mikari revealed. "Of course, I could still use my power to obtain that knowledge. Let's go Xellos!"

"Xellos?" Zelas questioned.

"Not that Xellos, I mean my iPod, that's his name," Mikari explained. "Now let's see, Google search, breaking the curse of the Lord of Nightmares. If that answer exists, it will be found on Google! Ah, here it is... That's it? Sounds simple enough. Okay, here's the counter spell. This is actually a spell used to repair personality altering damage caused by breaking the forth wall. Since the Lord of Nightmares broke the forth wall right before casting her curse, this should technically work. I don't want to risk using too much power and turning into a 'you know what' so I'll leave the spell to you, Zelas!"

Zelas didn't seem to be paying much attention to the research. "Give me some breathing room, Milgazia!"

"You don't need to breathe," he refused to let her go.

"I mean metaphorical breathing room!" Beast Master argued.

"Zelas the spell!" Mikari held up her iPod, which had a picture of a very cutesy looking Xellos in the background.

Without commenting on the machine, Zelas read. "Those who walked upon the shards, of the wall broken like a house of cards, shall forsake what should not be found, or in chaos they shall drown!"

Milgazia suddenly let her go, his face was red and he was looking very angry. "What was I doing? Zelas you monster, what curse did you place upon me?"

"Hey, Milgazia, are you still scared of me?" Mikari asked.

"I don't know who you are, but I can assure you that I have no room to be afraid of anyone with how angry I am at her!" He pointed at Zelas.

"It's not polite to point," Zelas reminded, somewhat shocked.

"It's not polite to brain wash people either!" Milgazia argued. "I'll never forgive you for this... this... terribly embarrassing... Arg!" He transformed into a dragon and started stomping all over the surface of Wolf Pack Island.

"Milgazia snuggling Zelas..." Mikari noted.

"Against both our will," Zelas insisted of pointing out.

"Milgazia losing his cool and throwing a Filia style hissy fit..." Mikari voice.

"And flattening my garden," Zelas frowned.

"Could it be that the Lord of Nightmares intended for this to happen all along?" Mikari theorized.

The Lord of Nightmares suddenly appeared again in front of the other two, hogging the attention of the camera. "That's right; the fan service that you've all been waiting to see was brought to you by me, the Lord of Nightmares!"

"She's stealing the spotlight," Zelas observed.

"If Lina was here, she would argue that she's the star," Mikari agreed.

"This is why I should always be the co-host of the traditional breaking of the forth wall!" The Lord of Nightmares began to laugh obnoxiously in the style of Naga and Martina as the screen faded to black with the noises of Milgazia's temper tantrum eventually fading into silence too.

In the endless blackness of the screen, a golden light began to shine, until it lit up in the shape of the Japanese kanji signifying 'end'. Then suddenly, a question mark appeared next to the kanji, for chaos never has a true end.

End of Arc 2 


	3. Arc 3

Seeking to obtain the legendary cure for the common cold to heal Gourry of his ailing, Lina ventures off on her own and finds herself pitted against a mysterious foe.

Slayers: Days

Arc 3: A Cure For The Common Cold

"Acho!" Gourry's voice echoed loudly across the inn room where he and Lina were staying. With a loud sniffle, he grinned sheepishly and tried again to communicate what he had been trying to say. However, his mind had gone blank, as if his thoughts had been thrown out along with the germs of the common cold. With nothing more to say, the blond swordsman only muttered unsure. "Um... Excuse me."

Lina blinked and let out a breath. "You're excused and bless you for the millionth time. And by the way, you're not going anywhere. Healing magic doesn't do a thing and I don't know what herbs to feed you." Who ever said idiots couldn't catch colds?

"But it's the common cold," Gourry reasoned with a sudden burst of logic. "It's not supposed to have a cure," he reminded.

"Until now," Lina daringly declared. "I've had it with this cold!" She growled with an unparalleled fury towards the microorganisms that caused the terrible incurable illness. "When you get over it, I get it and by the time I'm over it, you have it all over again."

"This cold's hard to kill," Gourry admitted with a groan. He sat down on the bed and it felt so good to rest that he decided to just sit there for a while. "It's a survivor."

"And we're its victims!" Lina emphasized. "No more!" The fierce redhead sounded dangerously determined. "I'll find a spell to cure you; I'll defeat the common cold!"

Gourry gasped, fearing the worse as Lina let out a stream of insane evil laughter. She looked very much like a crazy alchemist at the moment and that was certainly a cause for worry, especially since this as the Lina Inverse. "You're not gong to do weird experiments on me in your obsess quest to find a cure for the common cold, are you?" The flu afflicted swordsman coughed fearfully at the end of his frightened inquiry. Even if he felt like crawling under the covers and hibernating until his cold was gone, if it came down to Lina giving him an affirmative answer, he was ready to jump out the third story inn room window and run for his life.

"No," Lina replied, much to Gourry's relief. "But I have been doing some research. There's supposed to be some ruins or some such containing ancient findings about the super secret cure to the common cold. I've managed to pinpoint their location and that's where I'm going."

Noting the prominent use of singular pronouns, Gourry questioned, "you? As in not us?"

"Yes, you can't fight like this and I'll just risk getting the cold from you again. Stay here, I'll be back soon," Lina decided.

"But Lina," Gourry whined with a sad puppy dog expression.

The redhead paused at the inn room door. "No buts, stay here. I'll be fine on my own." Frowning unsure, Gourry finally nodded his dizzy head and laid back down on the bed.

xoxox xox xoxox

Time passed and Lina reached the supposed location of the ruins where the legendary cure to the common cold was rumored to be. She frowned at the whole lot of nothing before her. The area was empty of anything that stood out, for all it had was a large plain full of grass with some shrubbery and a few trees. It held nothing out of the ordinary and certainly no obscure legendary ruins. Lina was about to pull out her notes from the cape and try to see if she had misinterpreted the archaic clues that led to the location, but before she did, a peculiar feeling of foreboding overtook her. She took a few nonchalant steps forward, hand linked behind her back, then she suddenly turned around with such a fierce glare that it threatened to make even the astral being before her spontaneously combust. "Xellos!" Lina accused as if the act of being Xellos was a crime which, unconsciously, reminded her of when Wizer was trying to arrest her for being Lina Inverse.

"Hello, Lina," Xellos smiled as he always did, lifting one hand in salutation and keeping the other holding his staff. His face was as unreadable as ever, but it filled Lina with both hope and dread.

She hoped that this was indeed the site of the legendary cure to the common cold, because she doubted that if there really was nothing special about the place Xellos would just be there. She dreaded that his reason for being there was something else entirely, something troublesome that she would inevitably get dragged into, because she was Lina Inverse and it wasn't a crime, it was a blessing and a curse. "Let's just get down to business, what do you want?"

"Is that how you greet a friend?" Xellos frowned, feigning hurt.

"Enough with the false pleasantries!" Lina snapped with growing impatience. "What do you want?" She emphasized each word.

"It's not about what I want, dear Lina." Xellos shook his right index finger back and forth, his smile ever present. It was annoying.

"Right," Lina let out a half-groan, half-sigh. "What does Beast Master want?"

"To help you," Xellos' grin grew just a little.

"Right..." This time the sound that came out of Lina was very obviously an exasperated groan. "I'll play along, since you're going to word things however you want anyway. Details?"

"As you might already know, recently some archeological discoveries, that were publicized in various branches of the magic guild, reveal ancient clues to the location of a temple which contains the cure to the common cold. Given that you are here, I can only infer that you've concluded that this is the location of the ruins that contain said cure," Xellos explained.

"Oh no!" Lina fiercely interrupted. "I'm not going to let you destroy it!"

"Calm down, Lina," Xellos urged, noting that the red head looked just about ready to unleash a powerful spell upon him. "I'm not here to destroy it; I'm here to help you obtain it. If you would direct your gaze over there." He pointed to an area not too far away where the soil was disturbed and held only brown dirt without grass. "You'll notice that someone already dug their way in, though the soil seems to have mostly settled back into place. I'm here to teleport you into the underground ruins faster and more quietly than any of your spells could allow you to dig your way there."

"Well, that does sound useful," Lina eyed Xellos suspiciously. "But how is any of this useful to Beast Master? And don't say it's a secret!"

"It's not, actually," Xellos revealed. "Well, the finer details are a secret, but you'll figure them out soon enough. To put it simply, what I can share with you is this: Beast Master doesn't want your competition to obtain the cure. She would prefer it if you obtain it. It's a matter of monster principals, you see, a required common discourtesy. Once you have it, you may use the cure on Gourry," count on Xellos to know what went on in everyone's lives. "Sell it for profit or destroy it."

"I intend to replicate it, give it to Gourry and sell the rest, in case you're curious," Lina revealed, though her intentions were pretty easy to guess for anyone who knew her.

"That is fine," Xellos showed less signs of deception than usual, which had Lina rising and eyebrow and staring him down. The purple haired monster didn't flinch. "Shall we go?"

"Fine," Lina finally agreed. When it came down to Xellos, sometimes, most of the time, it was best to just play along.

xoxox xox xoxox

As expected, the underground ruins were dark, which Lina quickly solved with a Light spell, carrying the orb floating in her hand to reveal the path before her eyes. Xellos left her there and gave his goodbye, assuring that he would return if she called for him, not that she intended to do so. Thus left to her own devices, Lina explored the ruins. There were a few small traps here and there, but it was nothing big. The ruins had been buried for a long time and most of the traps had been worn and disabled by the passing of the years.

Finally, Lina arrived at a chamber where a strange contraption was. She approached it and examined it with curiosity. The thing was shaped like a half hour glass with many jewel-like crystals inside, which Lina greedily wondered if they were real gems. The bottom part of the gigantic hourglass was missing, the cone shaped glass top being supported by four pillars that held the encasement in a circle attached to them. The thin part of the glass allowed droplets of some shiny pale blue-green substance to drip out of it as if being extracted from the jewels. Yet Lina could somehow tell that the jewel alone weren't enough for the special process and that some kind of rare concoction was needed to refine them and make them drip out, ever so slowly, the shiny liquid that formed the elixir.

The tiny droplets fell into a glass bottle of rather small size below the large glass structure. Before touching the device, Lina examined the hieroglyphics on the walls. She pulled out a booklet from her cape and began translated what was not too worn and damaged to be read. Through the bits and pieces she could figure out, apparently this was indeed the cure to the common cold. While she was yet searching for the, likely terribly time consuming, recipe of how to mass produce it and become filthy rich, she heard footsteps approaching and realized that her rival had arrived. Immediately, Lina dispelled the orb of light she held and, before even seeing her opponent's face, she went on the attack to defend her prize. "Fireball!"

Once the burning projectile was launched, Lina made a run for the bottle with intentions of securing it in her possession. Yet the flames were countered by the mysterious foe with a defiant cry of "Freeze Arrow!" Another repeat of the same ice based spell towards the area near the dimly shining bottle stopped Lina in her tracks, though the spell didn't reach its target.

No other spells followed, confirming Lina's suspiciousness that, much in the same situation as her, the enemy did not clearly see her, but only caught an indeterminable glimpse from the light of the fire from her previous attack and guessed that she would dash towards the prize. From the action she could infer that the person was quick and had a decent level of skill, from the voice, she concluded that it was a man, certainly more able than the average bandit. Not that it meant anything for the Lina inverse. Her next attack came in a less obvious fashion, lacking the light of the fire that had announced her previous one. "Diem wind!" She purposefully extended the spell side ways making it less concentrated and therefore less intense. Yet it was just enough for what she needed.

A relatively soft noise rung out in the quiet of the underground ruins as the unknown man firmly planted his feet on the ground and refused to be knocked out by the current of wind. A glance at the dim bottle that shone just bright enough to be easy to locate, but not enough to shed any light on the battle, told him that the mysterious sorceress that he face had not gone for the price again. Unfortunately, he couldn't pin point her location in the darkness that they were both too stubborn to breach, as her voice echoed off the empty walls and the current of wind came from every direction.

Lina's case was more favorable. The grasp for balance by the change of her opponent's stance made a sound similar to that of shifting armor. It was soft, perceptible with relative ease only because of the quietude of the ruins they were in and too soft to make a significant echo. She knew where he was and she knew he was armed. He wasn't just a sorcerer, she inferred; if he bothered wearing armor and was strong enough to make its use practical, he must have experience in close combat, which meant that she had to keep him at a distance. She knew that the odds would be severely against her if this turned into a physical fight, but despite her petite form, surely her magical skills surpassed his, of that she was confident, she was the Lina Inverse after all. Yet she only had a small dagger to defend herself with if the foe came too close and if he carried armor, surely he would carry a sort of weapon as well, a sword, a spear, an axe, something that her dagger could hardly parry. "Freeze arrow!"

The light that came was the burst of magic, which was much dimmer as it was not accompanied by light originating from the magic's element itself. At that moment, the man's instinct took over and he fall back into his combat training, automatically using his halberd to block off the attack. The weapon became heavier with a block of ice attached to its end as the spell took effect on it, but the added weight was not a real burden to the strong warrior. Now his opponent was on the move and the sound of her steps revealed her location. She was, logically as expected, heading towards the dim light of the bottle again, trying to steal the treasure he was trying to obtain and getting ever closer. He dashed towards her, chanting something under his breath. "You who crosses between sky and earth..."

Lina wasn't sure what the man was planning to do, but she knew he was on the move and rapidly catching up to her with heavy steps. He was tall, she inferred, and with every piece of information that was added to what she knew about him the mental image became more complete, closet, yet not quite close enough, to a revelation of his identity.

"Gently flowing water..."

He was tall, strong enough to wear armor and wield a weapon of close combat and had some magical skill, though apparently melee battles were more so his forte than distant magical attacks.

"Gather in my hand and give me power..."

A deep strangely familiar voice, a preference for ice based magic thus far. He was chanting something, yet the words were spoken in such a low volume mixed with his steady strong breaths that Lina couldn't tell what he was saying.

Then the chant was over and the sorceress was forced to think on her feet as he called out a triumphant exclamation of "demona Crystal!" With the fierce certainty that the mysterious bandit girl would be encased in ice, buying him the time he needed to claim his prize and sort things out concerning her later, maybe even hand her over to the authorities.

"Raywing!" The reaction was so sudden, so instinctual and so harsh, that in an effort to dodge the freezing mist that came out of the ground, threatening to encase her in ice on contact, Lina flew too high and bumped her head on the buried ruins' ceiling. A rock was loosened on the collision and she hastily murmured "Levitation..." and floated a little lower and to the side. The stone that was loosened by Lina's thick skull fell from the cave ceiling and impacted the hour glass shaped structure. Resulting to be quite fragile by a combination of age and material, the structure shattered, sending the crystals it contained to rain down upon the bottle that held the time costly to make precious elixir below.

The loud crash made the man gasp as the glow of the small bottle was lost. He let go of whatever stubborn pride prevented him from lighting up the room if the bandit girl also refused to do so, no longer willing to give her the opportunity to choose the conditions of the battle field to suit whatever advantages she preferred. His eyes were fixed on the ruined contraption in horror, the bottle containing the cure to the common cold had been, without a doubt, crushed, its precious healing liquid lost.

Through the pounding in her head, Lina could not make herself look at the man. As the tragic mess was lit up, she could look at it alone for several seconds. Then she felt the man's eyes on her and he made a sound that denoted surprise. She didn't know what it meant, but sensed recognition in it. Perhaps he was realizing that the one who had managed to anger was the Lina Inverse, the famed bandit killer. Well it was too late for him, because now Lina was pissed off. Without even bothering to look at the man, she began a hasty chant, still floating in mid air by the power of Levitation. "Darkness beyond twilight, crimson beyond blood that flows, buried in the stream of time is where your power grows. I pledge myself to conquer all the foes who stand, before the mighty gift bestowed in my unworthy hands. "

"Lina, no!" The man cautioned urgently. The treasure was destroyed and if the temperamental sorceress didn't stop, she would destroy the clues about how to prepare it that were hidden in the hieroglyphics on the walls.

The redhead paid no mind to the plea that scarcely reached her ears beyond the concentration of her own rapid chant. "Let the fool who stands before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess!" Her eyes had been closed in a deep concentration to summon power to her hands while rushing the chant as much as possible. When she finally opened them, the power was ready to burst as the words automatically came to her despite the recognition in her eyes. "Dragon Slave!" A devastating explosion followed...

xoxox xox xoxox

"Recovery!" Kardis opened his eyes to stare into the face of an angry Lina Inverse. "What do you think you were doing?" She demanded, stomping her feet and resting her hands on her hips in a scolding pose. Kardis sat up and looked around the area. They were in a deep crater, deeper than the usual result of the Dragon Slave, as it took place underground. Vexed by his silence, Lina continued. "If that Dragon Slave wasn't rushed, if I hadn't managed to avert my aim at the last second." She waved her arms for emphasis, fuming, and poked him on the chest with her right index finger. "You'd be dead!"

"This was just a rushed spell, eh? Your power has grown," Kardis got to his feet, ignoring the soreness that clung to his every muscle after the ordeal. "But I should remind, you were the one who destroyed the elixir and the hieroglyphics that could possibly tell us how to make more."

"It was all your fault!" Lina screeched at the man who, at full height, towered over her. She tilted her head back to glare at him fiercely. "Why were you there anyway? I thought you were at Zephilia."

"I was, but Luna caught a dreadful cold and I came to hunt down the cure for her. Although it looks like she'll have to tough it out like any other person now," Kardis explained.

Lina paled, as the terrified syllables left her lips. "Lu... Lu... Luna..." She cringed, imagining her sister's disapproval, sick or not, she was still fierce. "I'm... uh... surprised that the knight of Ceifeed can catch a cold..." Lina muttered nervously.

"No one is safe from the horrors of the common cold..." Kardis ascertained bitterly, as if remembering something tragic. The tone made Lina tilt her head in curiosity, which prompted him to elaborate. "I was the one who caught the cold first. Luna kindly tended to me in my hour of need, but after I was feeling better, it was only to regretfully discover that she was sick. Rumors about an alleged legendary cure to the common cold had recently reached Zephilia and I assured Luna that I would find the cure for her."

"And you destroyed it," Lina huffed. "Way to go, knight of the knight of Ceifeed."

"You were the one who destroyed it, little sister," Kardis reminded.

Lina disregarded the information with a slight shudder. "Details, details, Luna doesn't need to know. Just tell her the rumors were only rumors and give her a get well goodie bag."

"Why don't we both go do that," Kardis challenged.

Lina took an involuntary step back. "I would go, but I'm very busy right now. Gotta go hunt down a certain purple haired trickster and hit him on the head." Without further arguments, Lina Raywinged it out of there.

End of Story 3

A request from Ryujin65, same as Story 1 was. This arc takes place after Arc 1, though it can also be placed after Chaos.

That's it for now, I'll have some more one-shot to post in various categories eventually, but for now I'm taking a much needed break from writing in general and focusing on pixel making for a while. Expect lots of updates on all the art archives where I post (which are listed on my profile.) Also, keep an eye on my site and add me on Twitter MiliAzure and Gameloft by the same name (or any of the other sites listed on my site, though I have different usernames on most, you'll find them all listed at my main site.) It's always nice to add new people, so do add me. :)


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